Federal 941/944 payment "Important!" message

Thanks for joining the Community, Stewart Engr.

Let's make sure to verify your payroll setup in QuickBooks Online (QBO). This can be the reason why you've getting a message prompt or warning when trying to pay your Federal 941/944.

Learn more about the different types of deposit schedules for Federal 941 through this link: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/employment-tax-due-dates.

Once you've verified your correct deposit schedule, follow the steps below on how to update it in QBO:

1. Go to the Gear icon.
2. Choose Payroll Settings.
3. Under Taxes, click the Federal Taxes link.
4. From the Preferences tab, click Change or add new schedule. 
   
5. Select the correct schedule. Then, click OK.
   

For your reference on how to change deposit schedules, here's an article that you can visit: Change deposit or filing schedule for Federal tax payments.

You can always get back to me if you have follow-up questions. It'd be my pleasure to help you all the way. Have a good day!

Thank you for the fast response.

We have been informed by the IRS that we must deposit our 941 payments semi-weekly, and that is the schedule our 941 tax payments settings our QBO account is set up for (semi-weekly, with an effective date of 1/1/2016: we have been doing semi-weekly deposits for a long time). See attached.

However, we actually pay our 941 weekly, every Monday, because that is when we process our payroll (our payday is every Tuesday, we process payroll on Monday during banking hours). 

Our Quickbooks Online prompts us to pay our 941 immediately after processing our payroll each week, so we do as Quickbooks recommends. But, when we are actually processing the 941 payment, Quickbooks also gives us that "Important!" message which I referenced above in my initial question. Hence, our dilemma. We are getting mixed-messages from QBO.

So: what should we do? Continue to pay the 941 weekly as QBO suggests to do each time we run payroll? Or, should we wait as the "Important!" message suggests?

You are getting the message because you're sending the tax payment earlier than the expected due date, Stewart Engr.

QuickBooks is basically telling you that you're paying a tax that's not yet due based on the setup that you have in your account. 

You're also prompted to pay after every payroll probably because the amount of liability qualifies for a next-day deposit payment. A tax liability of $100,000 or more is required to make a deposit by the next business day.

Here's a link from the IRS to get more info about deposit schedules: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p3151.pdf.

If you're getting this amount, please contact our Payroll Support Team. They'll need to access your account and make some changes so you will no longer receive the message when paying the tax. 

Here's how: 

1. Click the Help menu and select Contact Us.
2. Inform them that you're reaching out to them about your deposit schedule.
3. Click Let's talk.
4. Click Start messaging to get a chart support agent or click Get a callback to schedule an appointment with one of our phone agents.

Don't hesitate to tap on us again if you need more help whenever getting your payroll done. Thanks!

Thank you JenoP.

Could you provide a recommended day that we send the 941 e-payment from QBO, assuming the following:

1. We run payroll every Monday during banking hours. Our "payday" is set to every Tuesday.

2. Our 941 liability is well below $100,000.

3. We desire to pay our 941 semi-weekly, and our 941 payment settings are set to semi-weekly. 

Example answers:

1. Do not pay the 941 immediately after processing payroll on Monday. Simply check the QBO tax screen every morning and wait for the QBO tax screen to tell us to "pay now".

2. Pay it the same week, on Friday during banking hours.

3. Pay it the following week, on Wednesday during banking hours.

4. Something other suggested payment.

Thank you.

I appreciate you checking this with us, Stewart Engr.

Base on the information you've provided, you should deposit payments by the following Friday since wages were paid on a Tuesday. For more details about this, you can visit the link shared above about the different deposit schedules.

You'll want to confirm your deposit schedule by contacting IRS: https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/contact-irs-for-more-information.
This is to make sure you're eligible to be considered as a semiweekly schedule depositors.

If there's anything else that I can help you with, please let me know in the comment section down below. I'll be always around ready to help.

Thank you. Please clarify both points belowv

1. By "the following Friday", do you mean on Friday in the same week that the taxable payroll was processed, or the Friday of the next week?

2.  By "deposit", do you mean that the e-payment should "clear" on that day? Or, should the e-payment be initiated on that day?

Hello there, @Stewart Engr. 

To clarify, the following Friday referred by my peer is the same week that the taxable payroll was processed. You can check out this semiweekly tax deposit schedule due dates to make sure you're on the right track. Just focus on the Fourth Quarter table for 2019.

Regarding the deposit, IRS will directly debit your bank account on the payment date. Thus, you can process your payment on that same day. Just ensure you have the funds available by the end of the previous banking days to cover the transaction. 

For more information, you can read through this topic: When do you debit my bank account for electronic tax payments? outlined in this help article: Pay and file payroll taxes electronically. It also covers commonly asked questions about e-payment and e-filing for your future reference. 

Feel free to message again if you have more questions. We're always here to assist.